To this day, your home may be your most valuable possession, monetarily and sentimentally speaking. So you may be understandably hesitant, and better yet confused, as to why you would so willingly give it up during your lifetime. Well, in short, the answer is the same for anything regarding your estate plan. That is, you may do so for the best interest of the loved ones you will sadly leave behind upon your unfortunate passing. With that being said, please read on to discover why you should transfer ownership of your home during your lifetime and how a seasoned Broward County estate lawyer at The Probate Lawyers can guide you through this process.
Why should I transfer ownership of my home during my lifetime?
It is a sad reality to face, but you may be at an age or health status where it is no longer safe to live alone in your home anymore. Rather, it may be better for you to be under the watchful eye of full-time healthcare in a nursing home or another similar assisted living facility. This may leave you with the question of what to do with your home. Well, in this case, you may want to transfer ownership of your home to one of your loved ones. That is, someone who you would have liked to inherit it on the date of your unfortunate passing anyway.
This transfer should be done sooner rather than later if you are looking into applying for Florida’s Medicaid program. This program has a five-year look-back period, which identifies all asset transfers made for the five years preceding your application. So, if you transfer ownership of your home more than five years before applying for Medicaid, then Medicaid may cover the cost of your future, long-term care services.
How do I go about transferring ownership of my home?
Notably, there are several ways to go about transferring ownership of your home to your loved one during your lifetime, and they read as follows:
- You may gift your home: with this, Florida does not impose a gift tax, and federal gift tax is only triggered if your home is valued at more than $13,61 million.
- You may sell your home: with this, you may give your loved one an advantage in the housing market by selling at a reduced price or with a lower interest rate mortgage.
- You may make your home jointly owned: with this, you may add your loved one’s name to the title of your home.
Still, if you feel more comfortable keeping your home in your possession in the meantime, you may execute this transfer through a will or trust. In conclusion, a competent Broward County estate lawyer can help kickstart your legal action today. Our team at The Probate Lawyers will happily take on your case. So pick up the phone and give us a call.
